Senior Mechanical Engineer

Overview

In this role you will own mechanical design for avionics and payload installations, taking hardware from concept to qualification and production. You’ll work across mechanical, thermal and electrical interfaces to deliver reliable airborne systems in a fast-paced environment. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to solve complex thermal, sealing and integration challenges, delivering flight-ready hardware in months. This is a hands-on role with real impact on mission-critical platforms.

Pay / Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Pension contribution up to 10%
• 25 days holiday + Bank Holidays
• Private Medical Insurance and wellbeing support
• Flexible hybrid working from Bristol

Responsibilities

• Design avionics and payload installations, airframe components and mechanisms in SolidWorks
• Own models, drawings and design packs through the product lifecycle
• Design thermal management solutions for high-power electronics (heatsinks, ducting, fans, interface materials)
• Design installations with harness routing, access, grounding and serviceability
• Develop sealing and environmental protection for maritime and extreme climate operations
• Support qualification testing across vibration, shock, temperature, altitude, humidity and salt exposure
• Manage mechanical interfaces with electrical, systems and aerodynamics teams
• Work with suppliers and manufacturing on machining, additive manufacturing and composites
• Support design reviews and produce analysis and test documentation
• Provide guidance and technical support to junior engineers

Key requirements

• Degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering
• Mechanical design experience in aerospace/defence or similarly demanding environment
• Experience taking hardware through environmental qualification and testing
• Experience with low-to-medium volume manufacturing (machining, additive manufacturing and/or composites)
• Ability to perform structural or thermal FEA/CFD for initial analysis
• Strong SolidWorks and engineering drawing experience; GD&T beneficial
• Interest in cross-disciplinary work across mechanical, thermal and electrical interfaces
• Practical engineering approach with hands-on sanity checks before simulation
• Confidence to decide and deliver under changing priorities and tight timescales

• Collaborative and proactive problem-solving
• Clear communicator with cross-functional teams
• Adaptability to changing priorities
• SolidWorks; engineering drawing; GD&T
• Thermal management design (heatsinks, ducting, fans)
• FEA/CFD for initial analysis

…